Landlord seeks help online over tenant who 'mindlessly hogs' kitchen for hours

A landlord has complained of not being able to use his own kitchen in his flat while his tenant "mindlessly hogs" there every night.

Taking to Facebook on Tuesday (March 19), Jake Tan added that he is "extremely annoyed" with his tenant for "sitting at the dining table with a drink and scrolling his phone for hours".

"Because of this behaviour, I find it awkward to even enter the kitchen to grab a drink from the fridge or even do my laundry," Tan said.

"I'm also not keen to make small talk, especially after a long day at work."

Tan said that he provided his tenant with a "nice" table and chair in his room, but added that "for some reason", the latter chose not to use them.

"Instead, he hangs out in the kitchen and hogs the space from about 7pm to midnight every evening."

Tan said that he "loves and appreciates" his second tenant who hides in his room with the door closed as soon as he gets home.

"What would you do in my situation?" he wrote.

Don't be 'calculative'

Tan said that his friends have told him to hang out in the kitchen for a longer period of time, so that the tenant himself will feel awkward and eventually leave the space.

"However, to be honest, I am not as free as my tenant. And besides, there isn't much to do in the kitchen for me to hang out there for a long period of time," he added.

Tan's post on the Complaint Singapore Facebook page has since garnered over 260 comments.

One netizen asked Tan if his tenant's actions had violated the tenancy agreement, and a second labelled Tan as "calculative" and urged him to "have a heart".

A netizen simply said: "Tenants are not animals in a confined space. They need some space to stretch to prevent claustrophobia."

Another quipped that he should remove the kitchen table and chairs. 

AsiaOne has contacted Tan for more information.

'Landlords should set clear guidelines': Property agent

Disputes between landlords and tenants about the use of common areas in the house can be prevented with clear communication from the onset, KnightFrank property agent Alvin Yeo told AsiaOne.

"It boils down to managing expectations and setting clear guidelines," he said, adding that tenants should clarify on the house rules with the landlords, and that the latter is encouraged to use a tenancy agreement template by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) to minimise misaligned expectations.

"All in all, the chemistry between the landlord and tenant has to be right."

Yeo said that property agents are under no obligation to resolve disputes between tenants and landlords.

The duty of the agent, according to CEA, ends when the tenancy agreement is signed.

"But I know that most agents would try their best to diffuse the situation if they could," Yeo said. "We will try to reason with the landlord if we feel they are unreasonable."

Yeo said that when tenants and landlords are locked into a dispute, they can also go to the Small Claims Tribunal or try mediation.

But the property agent said that Tan should first talk it out with his tenant to resolve his grievances, since it "sounds like a communication issue".

"You can't expect the tenant to change his behaviour if he is unaware [about the issue]," he added.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com